Enhancement of the thermal shock resistance of MgO-C slide plate materials with the addition of nano-ZrO2 modified magnesia aggregates

The thermal shock resistance (TSR) of sintered magnesia aggregates which were modified by vacuum impregnation with a nano-ZrO2-alcohol suspension, and the influence of the modified aggregates on the thermal shock performance of MgO-C slide plate materials were studied. The results showed that the TSR of the nano-ZrO2 modified magnesia aggregates increased; the hot modulus of rupture (HMOR) and TSR of the MgO-C slide plate materials also increased with the addition of the modified magnesia aggregates. When the amount of modified magnesia aggregates increased from 0 to 35 wt%, the residual strength ratio increased from 0.743 to 0.821 after thermal shock testing. The increase in the TSR of the MgO-C materials was attributed to the pinning effect of the nano-ZrO2 grains and the phase transformation toughening effect of ZrO2. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.